I really don’t like the rightwing implications of this baiting of liberals, but the criticism stands.

I would like to point out a few things here. I have been spending some time around the local Arabs who run the store on the corner. One night a Yemeni came in who had his beard cut in about the same way that this speaker did. He was also wearing a certain sort of white garment which is cut just a bit short near the feet, exposing a bit of thigh. While this is a common garment in Saudi Arabia, it is also typical jihadi garb.

If you see someone in the West wearing garb like that, it’s not really ok. I am not saying the man was a terrorist, but the beard and that garment to me meant that he was at least somewhat of a radical or an Islamist, much more of one than the local Muslims who run the market, none of whom have those particular beards nor who wear that short garment.

Notice the full beard on the speaker. Notice also how he sprinkles his speech with “Allahu Akbar.” We think that this cry is heard frequently in the Muslim World,but actually it is not. I yelled “Allahu Akbar” to one of the local Yemenis one time as a joke, and he looked a bit stunned.

Then I did a lot more research and I learned you are not really supposed to say that among more moderate Muslims. In fact, if you go around saying, “Allahu Akbar” outside of certain contexts, you are seen as an Islamist, a radical or especially a jihadi. The only other context where it might be ok may be during wartime. For instance, in the Syrian Civil War, even government troops sometimes yell, “Allahu Akbar” in the field. However, the Islamists yell it much, much more.

If you watch ISIS battlefield videos, you will notice that the Islamists are saying it constantly, often under the breath, typically with every artillery round they fire or IED they set off. After a major explosion on enemy territory, you can hear large numbers of them yelling it a lot.

With his beard and the fact that he unnecessarily puts “Allahu Akbar” in a normal conversational style speech, we can be assured that the speaker is some sort of Islamist or radical.

Also while it is true that many Sunni Muslims do believe in what the speaker said at least in theory, in the Muslim world, the death penalty for male homosexuals is not often carried out.

I guess it was not a serious headline, but yes there are, I worked with many in London as an accountant. Muslims who didn’t wear beards, who smoked weed, who drank alcohol and indulged in a lot of non-sanctioned horizontal wrestling with ladies of every colour.

See below to a couple of links to gay muslims groups and Imams – there are more, this is just for balance (obviously the vast majority of Imams denounce homosexuality).